Employee Engagement (Blog 7)

Definition to Employee Engagement

It explains the engagement as ‘an individual’s purpose and focused energy, evident to others in the display of personal initiative, adaptability, effort and persistence directed towards organizational goals’ (Macey et al., 2009).

Kahn (1990) defines employee engagement as “the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances”.

Employee engagement simply explains as ‘passion for work’. However, the most critical finding is that it is the way in which people are managed that has the most significant impact on engagement levels (Truss et al., 2006).

Ways of achieving Employee Engagement

It has been argued that one of the main drivers of employee engagement is for employees to have the opportunity to feed their view upwards (Truss et al., 2006).

                                        (Figure 1: The potential role of mindsets in unleashing employee engagement)

Storey et al. (2008) have identified seven common factors as below,

1. Vision - The work unit has a clear sense of the future that engages hearts and minds and creates pride among employees.
2. Opportunity - The work on offer provides a chance to grow both personally and professionally, through participation in the work unit’s activities.
3. Incentive - The compensation package is fair and equitable, including base salary, bonus and other financial incentives.
4. Impact - The work itself makes a difference or creates meaning, particularly as it connects the employee with a customer who uses the employee’s work.
5. Community - The social environment includes being part of a team when appropriate and working with co-workers who care.
6. Communication - The flow of information is two-way, so employees are in the know about what is going on.
7. Experimentation - The work hour, dress, and other policies are flexible and designed to adapt to the needs of both the firm and the employee.

Stairs and Galpin (2010) claimed that high levels of engagement have been shown relate to:

• Lower absenteeism and higher employee retention;
• Increased employee effort and productivity;
• Improved quality and reduced error rates;
• Increased sales;
• Higher profitability, earnings per share and shareholder returns;
• Enhanced customer satisfaction and loyalty;
• Faster business growth;
• Higher likelihood of business success

References 

• Kahn, W. A. (1990) ‘Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work,’ Academy of Management Journal, vol. 33, pp. 692–724.

• Macey, W. H., Schneider, B., Barbera, K. M. and Young, S. A. (2009) 'Employee Engagement', Malden, MA, Wiley-Blackwell.

• Stairs, M. and Galpin, M. (2010) ‘Positive engagement: from employee engagement to workplace happiness’, in (eds) Linley, P. A.,  Harrington, S. and Garcea, N., The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology and Work, New York, Oxford University Press.

• Storey, J., Welbourne, T. M., Wright, P. and Ulrich, D. (2008) 'The Routledge Companion to Strategic Human Resource Management', John Storey, UK.  pp. 299-31. [Online] available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300917033_Employee_engagement [Accessed on: 15^th September 2018].

• Truss, C., Soane, E., Edwards, C., Wisdom, K., Croll, A. and Burnett, J. (2006) 'Working Life: Employee Attitudes and Engagement 2006'. London, CIPD.

   

• Figure 1:  The potential role of mindsets in unleashing employee engagement (2018) [Online] available at : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053482215000091 [Accessed on: 15^th September 2018].